This dissertation examines twentieth century Western scholarly, artistic, and journalistic perspectives on the Middle East. The Middle East has been a constant topic of research in academia throughout the centuries, in which Orientalism is one of the leading enterprises, studying and presenting the region though theoretical frameworks and influential ideologies. As Edward W. Said noted in Orientalism (1978), the common trend in this discipline is to show the purported binary, dichotomizing of the Islamic East and the Christian West, which is discernable through visual art forms and various literatures projecting the Eastern world as often exotic and dangerous. With its Eurocentric perspective, Orientalism's influence is evident in several other fields, perhaps most notably in media practices seen through assorted biased reportings. The callous evaluations and assessments of the Middle East are perpetuated in the productions of many scholars, correspondents, and photographers since the early post-WWII, when the area studies began taking on a new direction, renewed while changing hands from Britain to the U.S., where ideology and decision making have met. This dissertation focuses on three expert communicators, and investigates how the modern Middle East is presented in their works--the academic treatments of Bernard Lewis, the photojournalism of David Douglas Duncan, and the journalism of Sandra Mackey. Their contributions have been critical and, in a very real sense, have created the Western view of the Middle East, making them worthy subjects of close scrutinization. Examination of their conceptualizations of the region and their perspectives on Islam delineates how Middle East has been perceived, to what extent their position in presenting the situation on the ground have contributed to the world shaping decisions of the policy makers, which have often rested more on myth and nostalgia than the facts, and how they have served to influence the shaping of knowledge about the East in the West, particularly in the U.S. / A Dissertation submitted to the Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of
Philosophy. / Summer, 2012. / April 24, 2012. / Bernard Lewis, David Douglas Duncan, media representation, Middle East, Orientalism, Sandra Mackey / Includes bibliographical references. / Eugene Crook, Professor Directing Dissertation; David Johnson, Professor Co-Directing Dissertation; Delia Poey, University Representative; Daniel Vitkus, Committee Member; Will Hanley, Committee Member; Reinier Leushuis, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_183475 |
| Contributors | Bilir, Defne (authoraut), Crook, Eugene (professor directing dissertation), Johnson, David (professor co-directing dissertation), Poey, Delia (university representative), Vitkus, Daniel (committee member), Hanley, Will (committee member), Leushuis, Reinier (committee member), Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities (degree granting department), Florida State University (degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource, computer, application/pdf |
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